Author Carol Bradley Bursack,[2014] Expert speaker, columnist and eldercare consultant
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to caregiving.
Short of neglect or abuse of the care receiver, nearly every family caregiver must be free to make choices that work best for their unique situation. Even then, the available choices aren't always ideal.
You simply have to try and acknowledge what it really means to just do your best.
As a caregiver for multiple elders – at one time I was providing some type of care to five elders in three locations, as well as caring for my children – I've received my share of criticism.
There were those who felt that I should have provided for my elders in my home. Of course, these weren't people who knew my family's full situation. They were casual onlookers. Sidewalk superintendents, if you will. People who knew the complexities that I was coping with understood that I needed to hire the help of outside care providers including in-home care and a terrific nursing home. That didn't make me less of a caregiver, but it made me different than a friend of mine who moved her mother into her home.
Caregiving situations are simply too diverse and complicated for others to pass judgment on the way one family caregiver copes with a situation. It's important to bear in mind that there are certain things not to say to a caregiver.
Being human, I suppose we all second guess others to some degree, at least in our thoughts. However, when we do that, we should have a way of reminding ourselves that we don't have the same life situation as the person we may be criticizing.
Not everyone is cut out to be a hands-on caregiver
There are people who simply don't have the emotional skills to be a caregiver.
If empathy, patience and a degree of willing self-sacrifice are not in a person's makeup, they are not bad people. They simply may not be the best hands-on caregiver for their aging parents. Many of these people wisely hire help for their parents' daily needs, while they work as advocates and managers.
This same approach holds true for many adult children who live at a distance from their parents. The parents still have friends in their home town and don't want to move to a strange location. Few of us can give up a good job and move to our parents' community in order to care for them. Therefore, often, much of the parent care must be delegated.
That does not mean these people don't love their parents. They are simply working with life events as best they can.
On a much more dramatic note, I've had many adult children who grew up in abusive homes ask me what their obligation is to their parents. For some, when I hear the horror of their childhoods, the fact that they are even thinking of their aging parents at all is amazing.
What I tell them is that they only need to do what they can without further damage to themselves.
They may decide that they can hire help for their parents, but can't give hands-on care. Or they may feel that they can visit once a week and manage the bills, but need to hire others for the rest of the care. There are some, of course, who simply walk away.
Who are we to judge if we haven't been through what they went through as children?
Some will quit a job and give up financial security
Even though people lose out on retirement benefits and Social Security earnings, as well as the obvious lack of salary, some people quit their job to care for their parents or have their parents move in with them. They become a full-time caregiver. They may struggle financially, but they are doing what they feel is right for them and their loved ones.
I feel strongly that caregivers who stay in the work force and find other ways to care for their elders shouldn't criticize those who stay at home. Conversely, neither should people who make the sacrifice to stay at home criticize others who hire help.
My caregiving involved both scenarios.
For many years, my main job was racing from place to place taking care of my aging loved ones who lived in various housing situations. However, during a number of my later caregiving years I was working a full-time job as well as caring for my three remaining elders, though they were then together in the same nursing home.
Both situations involved considerable sacrifice on my part, and the later situation involved substantial changes for my care receivers. But there was no other viable solution, so the choice was made. I went back to a full-time job and altered my caregiving, though I didn't, by any means, abandon it.
Amazingly, both choices drew criticism from others who thought – the operative word is "thought" since they weren't in my shoes – that they would have made better choices.
I had to learn to tune out criticism and do what I could.
My best had to be good enough.
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